Systems for assembling sliding panels, such as the type commonly used in shower doors, are generally well known in the art. Typically, some sort of free standing enclosure or frame extending from the walls of the dwelling structure are employed to surround an area that can then be easily accessed via the use of a sliding door housed within that frame. Usually, an upper, horizontal frame member, header, or slider rail will be used to guide and/or support one or more sliding door panels, the upper portions of which will often hang from the frame member. In some of these arrangements, a lower track or guide member is present in a lower part of the frame in order to keep the door panel from moving laterally as it slides longitudinally along the upper frame member. Examples of such systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,157 to Casebolt and U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,693 to Tarrega.
In order facilitate the sliding of the door, the top frame member usually includes a track, and the door includes a device that is adapted to engage the track, such as a wheel or roller of some sort. Because the door is connected to the wheel, these systems allow one to simply push the door, which will then slide with the wheel as it moves along the track in the upper frame member.
However, one problem with these systems is that they require mechanisms for both holding the door panel and connecting it to the wheel that engages the track. Therefore, these arrangements typically employ some sort of connection device for clamping the upper portion of the door panel or being otherwise fastened to the door, which connection device can then be connected to the wheel, such as in the arrangements disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,394 to Marlowe and U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,128 to Hines.
These arrangements, however, result in a significant disadvantage. By employing these connecting mechanisms, additional vertical space is required, resulting in an upper frame member with a large profile. First, such designs result in extra costs associated with manufacturing these unnecessarily large headers. Additionally, however, such designs simultaneously increase the size of the header while decreasing the size of the space created by sliding open the door, thereby resulting in an undesirably low level of aesthetic appeal and a decrease in the amount of open space by which one can access the enclosed area.
Alternatively, a hole may be drilled through the door panel itself, and the wheel may be fastened to the panel through this hole. However, sliding doors, and in particular, shower doors, are often made of glass. In addition to the infirmities produced by creating a weight bearing aperture in the glass, such holes must be created a significant distance below the top of the door panel, as apertures too close to the top edge of the door will be too weak and will result in fractures. Accordingly, a fair amount of glass must extend upwards from the point at which the door panel is fastened to the wheel, again necessitating a header with an undesirably large profile.
What is desired, therefore, is a sliding door assembly that does not require the use of headers that are expensive to manufacture. What is further desired is a sliding door assembly that minimizes the size of the header and maximizes the space created by sliding open the door. What is also desired is a sliding door assembly that does not create weaknesses in the glass of glass doors.